JERSEY CITY, N.J. — If there's a chance Peyton Manning will ride off into retirement regardless of what happens in Super Bowl XLVIII, it's a slim one.

Manning didn't sound like a 37-year-old quarterback who's ready to hang it up during the Broncos' initial pregame media session Sunday. If anything, coming off the most prolific passing regular season in NFL history, it would seem he's ready for more and feeling great just two years removed from neck surgery.

"I really have no plans beyond this game," Manning said. "I had no plans, coming into this season, beyond this year. I think that it is the healthy way to approach your career at this stage. I still enjoy playing football."

From the outside, looking at how Manning set records for yardage and touchdowns, it would appear obvious he hasn't lost anything after a major injury at his age. For him, those numbers are just the results of a process to which he remains addicted.

"When you still enjoy the preparation and the work part of it, I think you ought to be still doing that. I think as soon as I stop enjoying it, if I can’t produce, if I can’t help a team, that’s when I will stop playing. If that’s next year, then maybe it is. I certainly want to continue to keep playing.”

For the romantic or sentimental, Manning becoming the latest to swan sing in the Super Bowl seems like a fitting ending to a Hall of Fame career. Manning, however, was quick to point out he's different than the recent examples.

"There have been a number of players who have walked away as champions. I’m sure that it is a great feeling for those people," Manning said. "John Elway, Ray Lewis did it last year, and Michael Strahan. In talking to Ray Lewis, and talking to John Elway, they couldn’t play anymore. It was all they had to give. They truly left it all out there.

"I certainly had a career change two years ago with my injury and with changing teams. I’ve been truly on a one-year-at-a-time basis."

Wide receiver Wes Welker, a 32-year-old who just finished his first season playing with Manning, felt rejuvenated himself just by appreciating his quarterback's continued passion for the game.

"You can just tell he enjoys it and he loves it," Welker said. "He loves being around the guys. He loves the game planning. He loves Sundays. You can just tell all of the aspects of the game he really enjoys."

When you combine Manning's peak job performance in 2013 and his dedication to building on it, why should he quit now? For Elway, Lewis and Strahan, it was just their time. For as long as the fire burned in Brett Favre, it gave out when he didn't put in the time to stay ahead of competition.

It might be more storybook for Manning to pull another Elway if he gets his second ring next Sunday. But when he's just written his best chapter yet, why wouldn't we want another sequel?